PART 7
“Oh, look, the midget is awake,” a voice said. It sounded similar to Starscream, but Firefly’s head was a mess at that point and she was struggling to remember what was going on.
Even through the fuzz, her anger came out strong. “Call me that again. I dare you.” The Decepticon laughed in reply.
“Careful, Starscream. She still won’t like you.” Megatron chuckled. “Welcome back, Firefly. How are you feeling?”
“Like you care…” she mumbled, sitting up.
“Oh, I do care,” Megatron said, and then let out a laugh that chilled Firefly down to her very Spark. “You are my newest weapon.”
“Good to know. I wasn’t sure about that one,” she replied, sarcasm seeping through like deadly chemicals.
“Now let’s see if Soundwave did his job,” Megatron’s tone changed as he became demanding. “Come kiss my feet, darling.”
‘If I were human, I’d be hurling on those feet,’ she thought. “Bite me. Better yet, kill me now,” Firefly spat out venomously.
“Hmmm…” He pondered the results before trying again. “Where do your allegiances lie?”
She became dreamy and distant, and said, “With you, Highest Lord Megatron.”
“It worked! Too bad she doesn’t worship ME!” Starscream shouted a bit loudly.
Firefly returned to her normal self, shocked about what she had heard herself say. Then anger roared up within her, and who better to let it out on than Starscream? Her fist met with his jaw as she screamed, “Who would want to worship you?!” She punched him again.
“Why you little-!” Starscream drew out his guns.
Firefly continued to kick Starscream’s butt. But then, without any warning, he swatted at her and she flew into the wall, letting out an “oh!” as she made impact. “That definitely didn’t feel good, but, ya know, if I were a wimp, I really wouldn’t be in the predicament right now!” She flew back at him and lashed out her foot, kicking him in the face. “Oh look, I really did kick your butt. Oh, no, wait. That’s your face, isn’t it?”
All the other Decepticons were watching at this point, and most of them were laughing so hard, they were practically rolling on the floor. Starscream tried to pull back. “AH! I don’t want to fight you!”
She laughed. “Good. That makes this easy.” This was the first time she had enjoyed herself since she got to this place, and she was going to make the most of it.
Megatron was watching silently, and he watched Soundwave hold up his hand. There was a remote control in it, and Soundwave pressed a button.
Firefly was shocked and at first she just gasped and looked shocked. Then she fell to the floor screaming, her fists smashing against the floor or pounding against her head.
“Good work, Soundwave. Very effective,” Megatron complemented. He reached his hand in the direction of his minion. “Now give me that controller. Wouldn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.”
Someone pressed the button again, but she stayed there, not really caring about doing anything anymore. More screaming erupted from the little girlbot, but this time it was out of pure anger and hatred toward all of them. They were all cruel harsh beings that deserved more pain than anyone could ever possibly give them.
Then Megatron pressed the button again, and it all started over again. Her head was aching as if someone shot her there. ‘Not that I’d ever actually know that feeling,’ Firefly thought to herself, amid the pain and thrashing.
“For a moment there, my lord, I thought you were going to let her kill me,” Starscream said, not even noticing her anymore.
Megatron ignored him, and instead turned to the form curled up on the floor. “Do you see, Firefly? I am your master now, and this is your collar, your leash.” He pressed the button again, and her form relaxed a bit but was still in a little ball. “There, now. Will you listen to me?”
“Whatever, whatever! I don’t care!” Firefly pleaded. “I’ll do anything…” ‘just as long as you don’t press THE BUTTON again!’ she finished in her thoughts. Besides fear, there was not another emotion present at all. All the anger had vanished because she finally realized she had been beat. She thought about a song she enjoyed: “Now I am unbreakable/It’s unmistakable/No one can touch me/No one can stop me.” It no longer applied to her, she guessed.
Starscream snickered, and Megatron continued, “Good. We don’t have a plan yet, but when we do, you’ll be a big part of it. How does that sound?”
By this point, Firefly had sat up, but now she was just staring at the floor. “Whatever.” There was no life, not even anger twirled its way into her words.
“Soundwave, put her somewhere were she can think in private. Holding cell three,” he commanded.
Firefly was thrown into a tiny cell, barren of everything. It was completely gray and saddening. The walls were smooth, and there was no window or artificial light source, so once the door was slammed shut, it would be very dark.
The fear returned and she crawled into the farthest corner from the door. “I wanna go home…” she whined.
Soundwave heard her and came back in. “You ARE home.”
Firefly shook her head vigorously, using more emotion than she actually felt. “Home is where one feels they belong. This will never be home, no matter what you programmed me to think.”
Soundwave laughed and the door slammed shut. All of her hope and emotion disappeared along with any light. In complete darkness sat a robot, and in her own darkness, her mind.
***
Everyone was standing in the hall while Optimus was being repaired by Ratchet.
“RATCHET! Was that really necessary?” he shouted at the medic.
“He did that to me, too!” Jazz accused. “Maybe he’s taking his frustration out on us.”
Chromia scoffed. “You two are wimps.”
“Oh believe me, if I were taking my frustration out on you it’d be a lot worse,” Ratchet said, glaring at Jazz.
“Don’t you dare,” Optimus commanded as if Ratchet would actually even consider the idea. “Are you done yet? Or at least done enough that I can move?”
“I’m only done if you want to faint in five astrominutes,” Ratchet said, very rudely.
“I would love to know when you became so grouchy,” the larger Autobot commented.
“I would love to know when you became so impatient,” the medic mimicked.
“It’s a bad day when I’m the voice of reason but that bickering has GOT to stop,” Ironhide interrupted. “If we don’t get Firefly back soon, we won’t get her back at all.”
Bumblebee spoke next. “I could always go after her myself.” Everybody just stared at him, most of them thinking that he had lost his marbles.
Elita shook her head. “Not that again. It would end terribly.”
“Would it? I got her back,” ‘Bee argued.
“And nearly got yourself KILLED! You are up against a lot more than a hot-headed robot this time!” Elita was throwing her arms into strong gesticulations, trying to put emphasis on her words. “No! Absolutely NOT!”
The now second-smallest member of the team seemed to not be phased at all by Elita‘s tirade. “I can handle ‘em.”
“Not in one piece you can’t,” Ironhide argued. “Maybe you could bring Firefly back, but the Decepticons would kill you before you got her.”
Jazz did not want to be involved in this conversation, but then Optimus said, “Jazz what do you think?”
“I think the ceiling is very interesting right now,” he replied.
“Agreed.” Chromia stared up at the ceiling right next to Jazz, which earned her a glare from Ironhide. She pretended not to notice.
“This is no joke guys,” ‘Bee said. “seriously.”
“Who’s joking?” Jazz questioned. “Did Firefly leave those scorch marks up there?”
“Would you just can it?!” Bumblebee practically screamed. Jazz mimed zipping his mouth in reply.
Ratchet glanced over at the enraged Autobot, and then he turned back to fixing Optimus. “Bumblebee, your tone of voice indicates your feel very strongly about this.”
“Well why WOULDN’T I?!” ‘Bee asked.
“Because when you first came here you did not like--OUCH!” Elita had kicked Optimus, glaring at him. “What I am trying to say is that I hope you are not still feeling guilty for what happened last time.”
Ironhide disengaged from the emotional part of the conversation and started looking at the ceiling with Chromia and Jazz.
“No! I’m just thinking about what they could be doing to her at this very moment!” ‘Bee shouted. “Any time we waste could be more time they have to torture her!” He didn’t know if he could control him if that really was the case.
Optimus just stared at him for a moment, realizing how true his point was. “All right. You can go WITH us, but you are not going alone.” He looked up at the medic. “Ratchet you have to stay here and work on Justice.”
Ratchet argued, “But-”
The Autobot leader interrupted. “No. If she returns to find him at death’s door she will really go off the deep end, and no amount of comforting will bring her back.”
“So, now that that’s settled, are we going now?” the small robot asked from behind Optimus, clearly impatient.
“We’ll have to load up on ammo,” Ironhide said. “Didn’t Wheeljack work on some neural-scramblers?”
“What?” Jazz looked away from the marked ceiling to glance at Ironhide, confused.
“For Firefly, in case she flips again. It’s kinda like a tranquilizer dart,” Ironhide explained.
“Yes, but WHEELJACK made them,” Ratchet said. “They’re as likely to work as to blow up the planet.”
“We will go to the abduction site and follow their trail,” Optimus said, changing the subject.
“Get me to Firefly, and I’ll take over,” ‘Bee demanded. “I can help her.”
“I’ll go-” Jazz started.
He glared at Jazz. “By myself.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Bumblebee,” Elita said. “She’s as predictable as a Cybertronian hurricane and could probably do a lot more damage.”
“I can handle it but thanks for the vote of confidence,” ‘Bee replied sarcastically and then stalked away in a huff.
Optimus took Elita’s hand in his own. “I think he needs to do this.”
“Maybe so, but he’s been acting so weird lately.” She looked at the floor, where a few chips of door were left.
“He’s so used to being the smallest and the youngest that he needs to know he can DO something worthwhile,” the Autobot leader explained.
Elita sighed. “Just makes sure he returns alive and in one piece. And Firefly also.”
Optimus kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll do my best.”
“And…keep yourself alive too,” she added.
This is a really cool article...might be the kind of science I might be interested in studying...for, like, a job later on in life lol. There'd be more on it later, I hope, since there isn't much on it now. Check it out!
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100911/ap_on_re_us/us_fireflies_military_research I decided that since it was about fireflies, I'd post it here lol. Heck, maybe I could have Firefly glow in the dark somehow...that'd be neat!!!